Missed court date on petty theft charge?
Speakeasys asked:
What happens when you miss the date for your court appearance for a petty theft charge for under $50? It was two days ago but I wrote the wrong date in my day planner down.
I’m going to the court tomorrow to follow up.
I’m so scared. I’ve never been to jail. I just finished my school semester with a 3.0.
What happens when you miss the date for your court appearance for a petty theft charge for under $50? It was two days ago but I wrote the wrong date in my day planner down.
I’m going to the court tomorrow to follow up.
I’m so scared. I’ve never been to jail. I just finished my school semester with a 3.0.
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Poooooooorrr, boooooo, boooooooooooooo. What are ya thinkin?
ha.. warrant maybe dont really know.. a fine definitely.. and it wont be cheap
Most likely the judge issued a bench warrant for you on charges of failure to appear. That means you can be picked up at any time. You will be held in jail w/o bond until your hearing. You should contact an attorney or the court asap.
You probably have a bench warrant out for you. You should turn yourself in as soon as possible. You will probably be booked and released, perhaps with a small bail. If you get caught for something else, like a speeding ticket, and they find you have an outstanding warrant, it will be much worse for you.
It doesn’t matter if it was a $30 traffic ticket you failed to appear for. If you are in the US then a warrant for your arrest has already been issued for “Failure To Appear”. Most likely they won’t send anyone to pick you up, they’ll wait till you’re picked up for some other charge or traffic violation and arrest you on the spot and use that “FTA” as a reason to not grant you a bail on whatever charge you’re picked up on. BUT you do have an easier option, unfortunately you WILL probably have to spend a few hours in jail. You have to willingly turn yourself in EARLY one morning very SOON. What will happen is the Magistrate will have you be seen by a judge that day and then a different court date will be set and you’ll be able to go home that same day. If you turn yourself in late in the day like after 10am you might have to stay overnight and see the judge the next day then go home. If you turn yourself in by 8am you might get lucky and be home by lunch. But if you don’t do this, then who knows, you might get 30 to 90 days in jail just for this plus whatever time you get for anything else they pick you up on. One thing is for certain, the charge is not going away! Maybe after 7 years it might, but if a cop runs your name in any time before that 7 years is up, he’ll arrest you on the spot!